


Dead Hearts

by Luminovia



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: (perhaps a suicide/depression mention), ...unless you want me to?, Angst, Fluff, I like to think that Chris is a cat person, M/M, also Chris's little sister is just meant to make Chris feel safer at home, also this is sad so far but honestly it's until dawn what'd you expect, i wont explore her character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-10
Updated: 2016-04-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 19:03:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4972747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luminovia/pseuds/Luminovia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the prank Josh had pulled on his friends, they were all lucky to make it out alive. Josh still feels reluctant to forgive his friends, but Chris can't bring himself to come to terms with Josh's reluctance, especially since he had played no part in the prank. Chris also seems to feel differently towards Josh than the others do.</p><p> </p><p>(After the events of Until Dawn. AU where everyone (JOSH TOO) lives because honestly I cannot deal with Josh not being okay. Also the title is based off of "Dead Hearts" by Stars)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. After Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, you guys might remember my other fics from the Gravity Falls fandom, but I was chased out of that shipping and came here instead. I won't be finishing those fics, sorry, but I plan to see this one to the end. (I won't be chased out of the Climbing Class ship)

He sat in the investigation room, a bright light shining in his eyes. His body was aching and tired, and his head was still throbbing. None of that immediately came to his mind, however. In fact, nothing at all really came to his mind. Some form of dissociation, perhaps.

  
Chris has been through a lot, along with the others. He felt like he should care about all his friends and their current well-being, but he couldn't find himself worried enough, even for Ashley. That was especially strange to him.

  
Though he was still processing the whole thing, he wondered only about Josh, how Josh was doing, where Josh was.

  
Why was he fixated so deeply on Josh, though?

  
The investigators voices became clearer and he snapped out of it after a soft brush on his shoulder. Chris became almost afraid of contact after what had happened the night before.

  
"You said there was a man with you? Can you describe him to us?"

  
Chris mumbled a bit about the stranger, getting angry when the investigators had suddenly painted him out as a bad man.

  
"He saved my life," Chris replied in a bitter tone, "... And I watched him die."

  
A few more questions were answered giving a basic description of the stranger. As soon as they had finished asking about him, Chris steered the conversation towards Josh.

  
"And- and is Josh okay? W-where is Josh?" He stuttered.

  
"We've sent a search party out. We got word about ten minutes before this investigation that he was found in critical condition."

  
The words "critical condition" struck Chris like a knife through his still-beating heart. Sure, Josh was thankfully found alive, but for how long?

  
"Y-you withheld that information from me? Can I see him?"

  
The investigator shot a confused look at him. "You're not worried about the others?"

  
"I am, but... Well, Josh is my best friend, even after everything- Can't I just see him?"

  
"We can't allow that. His condition is critical and you can visit him in the hospital when he's stable. If you'd like we can update you on the others."

  
Chris let out a deep sigh, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes with one hand in an attempt to keep his eyes from brimming with tears. After a few moments he cleaned his glasses with the edge of his shirt and placed them back on his face.

  
"Right, right. Go ahead."

  
The investigator explained all his friend's conditions. Apparently they were all still alive. Out of them all, it seemed Jess was the most injured, next to Josh. She would also probably be in the hospital for a while. Not to mention Mike had lost his fingers and had minor frostbite. Ashley suffered from a concussion, and Emily had a few deep lacerations. Matt, for the most part, was okay, save for some bruises and cuts. Sam was much the same. Although he was glad that they made it out alive physically...

  
He still couldn't take his mind off of Josh.

  
They kept Chris at the station a little while longer, trying to coax out information from him. Most of their questions were either met with mumbles or silence, however, so they decided to send him back to his house earlier than the rest.

  
He sat in the back of the police car, a warm blanket encompassing him as he watched the sky turn a slightly brighter shade of purple, the sky still filled with clouds and the snow still falling.

  
That was fine. It felt like a grey day, anyway.

* * *

 

The policeman escorted him back to his home, about half an hour's drive from the station. He waited until Chris was safely inside the building before driving away. Chris's parents met him at the door, looking worried as all hell. His younger sister watched from the second step on the stairs, not completely understanding why her older brother came home looking so beat-up and tired.

  
"Chris, sweetheart- Oh my god, we were so worried when we got the call from the police, and-and-" His mom stumbled to find words, but instead broke down sobbing. His dad expressed the same amount of concern, asking numerous questions and nearly breaking down at the sight of his son.

  
Chris's mom went to embrace him, but he backed away from it rather quickly, causing his mom to be alarmed.

  
"Chris, dear, is- is something wrong?"

  
He shook his head. "No, no, I'm glad to see you, I just... I'm really tired and everything, and I'm not sure I wanna talk about things... Right now, at least. I'm still- I'm still shaken up."

  
"That's fine, it's okay. Do you want me to fix you up some hot cocoa?" She asked.

  
"That'd be good," Chris replied, taking a seat at the counter.

  
His mother quickly threw a pot on the stove and began boiling the water. Chris's dad took off towards the bathroom to get some first aid supplies for Chris's forehead. She busied herself with preparing that as Chris's little sister, Isabella, shuffled over to where he was, and tugged on his shirt to get his attention. She was only seven and wasn't totally aware of the situation.

  
Chris swerved his chair and looked down towards his sister. "Hi, Izzy."

  
She took a seat next to him and handed him her stuffed animal rabbit. "You look tired and sad, Chris!"

  
"I am."

  
"Did you have a fun time playing with your friends?"

  
Chris shrugged a little. "Not really."

  
Izzy smiled at him. "That's okay! Maybe Flops can help. He always helps me when I don't know what to do."

  
Chris looked down at the raggedy toy that was once his. He gave his sister a half-hearted smile and politely returned the bunny. "Thanks, Izzy."

* * *

 

Once Chris was in bed and had time to think to himself, he threw off most of his clothes and put on some sleepwear. It was almost eight in the morning, but he honestly couldn't bring himself to sleep. Not after the shit he'd gone through.

  
All he had thought about since what happened was Josh.

  
He sat on his bed, some shitty sad playlist of songs playing in the background as he tried not to worry himself about Josh.

  
Why was that idiot the one he was worried about? He nearly caused the death of one of their friends. Not to mention he had himself a great time watching his friends suffer. Why didn't he feel worried about Ashley instead??

  
In an hour or two, he decided to let it go and just drift into some desperately-needed sleep.

  
He didn't know that he would be plagued with nightmares.

  
Nevertheless, trauma he'd faced that night followed him even into his subconscious mind, trying with all it's might to tear him apart from the inside- from his mind.

  
It woke him immediately.

  
A minute later, he heard a knock at his door. His mom peeked in, informing him that Josh was in stable condition and was available for visits now. Faster than lightning, Chris threw on his jacket and told her he would take his car to get to the hospital.

  
He drove as fast as he could without getting pulled over. After an hour or so of driving, he'd finally made it to the hospital, and quickly scanned for a place to park. He threw his scarf on as he left his car and briskly walked towards the front doors of the hospital.

  
"Please be okay, Josh," he whispered under his breath.


	2. Front of His Mind

Some of the group stood in the hallway outside of a closed hospital door. Namely, Ashley and Sam. The others were still being questioned at the station.

Ashley stood looking down at the floor with a miserable look plastered across her face, whereas Sam watched Chris walk down the hallway towards them with an almost expressionless look on her face. Then again, she wasn't a very easy person to read.

  
Chris quickened his pace, coming to a halt in front of his two friends. Ashley immediately snapped out of it and looked Chris over before slinging her arms around his neck, almost in tears. He was sort of taken aback by the sudden contact, but let himself be embraced by her nonetheless.

  
"I'm- I'm so glad you're okay, Chris! You are okay, aren't you?"

  
Chris nodded briskly, averting Ashley's eyes by pretending to clean his glasses. He had a habit of doing that sometimes.

  
"Don't worry about me. How are you holding up?"

  
Ashley nodded slowly, not quite sure how she was feeling, either. Her focus was on her friends. She shot a brief smile towards Chris, insinuating that she was okay.

  
Chris responded with a caring, lingering grin towards her. After a few seconds he glanced over towards Sam.

  
"And you, Sam?"

  
She huffed a tired sigh and turned away. "I'm doing about as well as anyone could in this situation."

  
Chris walked over towards her and gave her a few awkward pats on the shoulder. She didn't seem to take notice, or else she didn't care.

  
Within a minute or two a nurse started to allow them in. Ashley and Sam decided to go in at the same time. Sam didn't have much to say, but Ashley cared-or at least she tried to. The visit couldn't have been longer than ten minutes.

  
The two girls exited the room and let Chris go in himself. They figured if they stuck around they would be there for a while, so Sam decided to drive her tired self and Ashley back to their respective homes.

  
When Chris entered the room, it smelled of heavy drugs and the strange plastic glove scent. A soft beeping could be heard each second from one of the machines. Josh was sitting in the bed, his knees pulled up to his chest and face hidden from view. Chris could hear him mumbling something incoherent. No doubt that he wasn't in good condition. 

  
Chris took a seat, the chair creaking as he sat. At that moment, it felt like time had come to a standstill. All noise stopped. Josh didn't look up. Chris stared at him.

  
"I'm not mad at you."

  
Josh still didn't move. Chris glanced around the room quickly before continuing.

  
"I know I should be. It worries me that I'm not angry, actually. I don't know why I'm not, but... I'm not." He adjusted his glasses slightly. "We should've been there. For you, I mean."

  
Josh picked his head up, but looked through the glass walls, in the opposite direction from Chris.

  
"I'm not going to tell you the prank was stupid. It was just revenge, right? A prank. No one was supposed to get hurt? Did fucking wonders for you, didn't it?"

Josh turned his head. His eyes had been red and puffy from crying, apparently. His expression was blank.

  
"Josh-"

  
Josh grabbed the tiny vase on the stand next to his bed and threw it against the wall across the room as hard as he could. "Get out of my fucking head, man! Stop being mad, I'm the mad one!"

  
Chris was stunned.

  
"Josh, I'm not- I'm asking if you ever even thought it through!"

  
"It's been on my mind ever since the first fucking prank! Do you know what it's like to live inside my mind? Do I even have a fucking mind anymore? Where the hell were all of you when I lost what mattered??"

  
Chris stared into Josh's eyes, searching for some hint of sanity.

  
"It's all over and done wi-"

  
"No, no, no. Oh, no, it's not, Chris," Josh spat out his name bitterly, "You think just because we're all home and not getting skinned and eaten alive by monsters that nothing bad could ever happen again. Don't you know?"

  
Josh began chuckling maniacally at this point. "Don't you know how it feels? You don't, frankly, and it's annoying to see you think you know what you're talking about. But that's who you are, isn't it? If you don't know anything you're basically worthless."

  
Chris suddenly got flashbacks to Josh taunting them during the walk to the shed with Mike. It saddened him to see Josh like this.

  
"You can pick at my insecurities all you want, Josh. I'm not gonna get angry."

  
Josh sighed, tapping his finger on the bed before replying, "Then why the fuck did you come here?"

  
"Because you're still my friend, and I want answers."

  
Josh scoffed at his remark. "I would've been better off decapitated by that demon monster."

  
Chris looked at Josh's profile, studying his face for some sign of... something. Anything. Josh was not a simple person- if he were a book, a 3 year old's writing would be easier to read.

  
About a minute or two later, Chris got up and prepared to leave. As he was about to close the door, he watched Josh once more. This time he noticed a tear roll down his cheek. Chris suddenly became more sympathetic, but he said nothing as he closed the door gently behind him.

  
As he proceeded down the hall with a somber expression, he tried to put all the fear and sadness out of his head. But Josh just kept coming back to the front of his mind, and Chris doubted that he'd leave anytime soon.

  
He wished he could help, but how can you aid someone who won't accept your help?


	3. Complex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if this sort of descriptive stuff goes well for you guys? I wasn't really very descriptive in my past chapters, it was mostly just dialogue and story. I like describing every once in a while.

Chris spent much of the day pacing around his bedroom. At the moment, nothing felt real. He looked around the walls of his room, staring at all the small details. The small hole in the wall that was a consequence of Josh hitting the wall with the hilt of his lightsaber when they were younger. There were multiple posters of video games, indie bands, and such covering the sky blue colors of the walls. Claw marks on the door from his cat when it was a just a kitten.

  
None of them felt memorable. He remembered the instances, but it seemed so far away. Everything was complex now; it wasn't just a hole in the wall, it was Chris having fun with his friend from so long ago, who had developed an extremely severe mental illness. It wasn't just claw marks on the door, it was Chris training his cat over and over to use a scratching post. They weren't just games and bands, they were people who dedicated years of practice and hard work to their career.

  
It all came rushing at him so fast, and he felt like his head was about to explode. Why did everything have a story or have a name? Why was everything connecting in the most impossible ways so abruptly?

  
He threw himself onto his bed, turning on his side and sinking into the comfort of his cushy blanket. He craved to make sense of this corrupt, morbid situation. How could he do that without overloading his mind?

  
He sighed and grasped lightly at the fuzzy comforter of his bed. He put his glasses on the stand next to his bed and stared out the window. It was a rather bleak and foreboding day. The clouds were darker since it was almost night time. The flakes of snow gently blew down from above.

  
"What do you really want?" he asked himself as he drifted off to sleep. The one word he thought of before beginning to dream would be one he would not remember.

  
"Josh."

* * *

 

He woke in the middle of the night, his tranquil dreaming disrupted by a chilling subconscious memory of the detailed face of a wendigo. As he bolted upright, he glanced around the room, petrified with fear and alarm. In the corner of the room, he spotted it. The ghastly,dreadful monster that was the wendigo.

  
It crept closer towards Chris, its ravenous appetite for carnage visible in its piercing eyes. It darted across the walls of the room, sinking its long, pointed fingers into the wall to hold it up.

  
"No, no no no...." he muttered quietly. The demonic creature seemed to have noticed that.

  
Chris found himself paralyzed. His mind kept screaming for him to run, run, run. Without warning, he felt a jab in his chest and an excruciating pain ripple throughout his body as he looked down and saw the wendigo's fingers, glistening with his blood, and his heart beating slower and slower until he realized what had happened.

  
Chris wasn't usually one to experience night terrors. He had them a few times when he was young, but it was never that intense. He could still feel the agony of that pain he'd felt just moments before as if it had actually happened to him. He struggled for breath, grasping at his chest instinctively.

  
His shaking hands slowly reached up to hold his head in them. That was a true definition of torture. He couldn't find the will to live if he had to deal with those every night.

  
"I... I have to talk to Josh," he thought to himself, "I have to make amends with him. I have to stop this somehow."

  
He got up and out of bed, briefly glancing at the clock before getting ready. It read 5:12 AM, but if Chris got a start now, he'd be able to make it early for the start of visiting hours at 7:00.

* * *

 

It was a sluggish drive to the hospital. Since the incident, it felt like all time had been going fast and that Chris was somehow stuck in slow motion. He felt like everyone else was being helped in some way but he couldn't bring himself out of that panicked state of mind. Everything to him was dangerous and at the same time safe.

  
He got into the parking lot about 30 minutes earlier than the start of visiting hours. He left the car and decided to wait inside the building. He rubbed his weary eyes, wishing he could've slept later, but he knew that wasn't a reality as long as he had those night terrors.

  
Chris strolled towards the automatic doors, his breath clearly visible on the freezing, heavily overcast morning. He waited at the reception desk until a cheerful woman came from a door behind the counter. Chris told her the reason he was there and who he was visiting, mentioning that he knew it was a little early and was prepared to wait.

  
She let him wait in the waiting room. Chris took advantage of this time to figure out what he should say.

  
The half-an-hour wait went by fast, and before he knew it, Chris was at the door of Josh's room. He reached for the handle, pulling back hesitantly at the last second. He walked away from the door for a minute, taking off his glasses and sliding his hands down his face anxiously. He gave himself a little bit of time to think before approaching the door again, turning the knob slowly and then entering the room.

  
Josh looked up from the book he was reading. Seeing it was just Chris, he rolled his eyes and put the book down on the table to his left.

  
"Ah, it's just you. I thought it would be one of those, y'know, hot nurses. Man, you just ring for them and they come running right up. Now that's something to get your vital signs going again for sure."

  
Chris pulled up a seat next to the bed. He looked down towards the floor as if trying to remember what he wanted to say. Josh seemed different today, like he was back in control of his own mind- for the time being.

  
"So, why is your pathetic ass back here again?"

  
Chris scratched the back of his head. "I'm seeing... these things."

  
Josh scoffed. "Seeing things? Oh, oh, NOW you're getting them. Try living like me for the past year. Do you know what happened to my sisters? Huh? Neither do I."

  
"Josh, please, I thought if I could somehow apologize for what happened-" Chris paused and looked at his former friend.

  
"What are you gonna do? You're- You're gonna grovel at my feet or something??"

  
"I wasn't involved in the fucking prank, Josh. Did you forget we both passed out completely wasted that night? And I was the only one who was there when you were hungover and grieving the next day."

  
Josh didn't say anything. Looking down, he quickly scanned his hands.

  
"... But you went on living after that. As if it didn't even phase you. I died long, long ago, Christopher. You, on the other hand, just kept on living life to the fullest!"

  
Josh moved his legs out from under the blanket, grabbing hold of the IV pole for support and stumbling a little as he stood up. He walked carefully over towards the window and looked up to the unusually dark skies. Big flakes flew through the air swiftly, building up on the already snow-covered ground.

  
Chris got up as well, starting to approach Josh before pausing about 6 feet away.

  
"Who cared about me after that? Only Sam did. She was the only one who actually checked every day to see if I was okay. Now she hates me, just like all of you do. All of you..."

  
Chris shuffled his feet a bit, glancing up at Josh and then back down again.

  
"Josh, I've told you that I'm not mad at you. I was mad when I found out you were pranking us, but I've come to terms with it."

  
"Really?" Josh asked, turning to face Chris. He hobbled over towards him, staring him dead in the eye. "Really? And how do I know you're not being a kiss-ass right now just to get me to forgive you so you can stop seeing the shit you're seeing?"

  
Chris had been glimpsing away as Josh grew closer. He had gotten up close to Chris's face to show his lack of fear of him. This made Chris step back a bit.

Personal space had become a great value to him lately.

  
"I thought so," Josh said, starting to turn away.

  
Chris reached for his wrist, holding it tightly as Josh stopped dead in his tracks and turned once more toward Chris.

  
"I've- I've figured it out," Chris said.

  
"What the fuck does that mean?"

  
"I've figured it out," he repeated, "I know why I'm not angry at you."

  
"If you can give me one good reason why you're not angry at me-"

  
Chris lessened his grip on Josh's wrist, interrupting him mid-sentence and causing the bitter look on his face to change into a confused expression.

  
"I don't hate you. I like you," Chris paused. "I like you as... something more."

  
They both stood there motionless. Time had come to a standstill. Josh's eyes widened in realization, but he still just stood in place, thinking for a full minute or two.

  
"You're an asshole," he whispered, "How am I supposed to believe that? You think it's funny to play with someone's feelings? Do you want me to run out into the cold and wind up missing and dead now, like my sisters??"

  
Chris became alarmed and fearfully pulled his hand away from Josh's arm. "Josh, I'm not lying, I-"

  
"No, I'm not listening to this, okay? Get out. Right now."

  
Chris reached his hand out slightly, as if he wanted to grab Josh's shoulder and explain everything, but he felt he should save it for a later day.

  
He took one last glance at Josh's weighed down, saddened figure before opening the door and going on his way.

 

* * *

  
The reception lady picked up the ringing phone.

  
"Hey, this is Joshua Washington's primary nurse. Just letting you know he won't want any visitors for the rest of the day."

  
"Right, I'll contact his family about that then," the receptionist replied.

  
Josh had to give himself a while to think about what had just happened.


	4. Broken Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY there! I'm back again. Yep. Hi! Sorry for the delayed absence. School happens, y'know? I'm going to college next year so I had to figure that shit out too.
> 
> Enjoy!

Chris had made it to the hospital the next day only to find that Josh was only accepting immediate family visitors that day. Feeling defeated, he drove back home and spent much of the day thinking in his room.

  
At some point later in the day, his mom came knocking on the door.

  
"Chris, honey?" She said.

  
Chris grumbled a muffled "what?" into his pillow.

  
"Your father and I have been looking into finding therapists for you. The police down at the station had told us that it would be worth looking into. They said the same about your friends, too."

  
Chris didn't feel the need to reply, but turned his head from where it was in the pillow and nodded tiredly.

  
"We scheduled an appointment tomorrow, if that's okay with you?"

  
"Yeah, yeah..." Chris responded. He didn't really find it all that important at this point. He'd been in therapy before, a few years prior, but he never felt that it helped much. His main idea of "getting better" was now talking it out with Josh and letting him know how greatly he truly felt for him.

  
Maybe at this point, it wasn't just about the night terrors. He began to realize that it was true and that he did have feelings for Josh. This wasn't just about Chris trying to cope, either. It became about helping Josh and pulling out from the darkness he was trapped in.

  
Izzy knocked on Chris's door, startling him out of his thought process.

  
"Chris, Chris!" she said, her eyes glossy with tears. In one hand she held her stuffed animal's arm, and in the other, the stuffed animal.

  
"Oh, no, what happened?" he asked as she ran towards him, giving him a hug and sniffling softly.

  
"Ori broke Flops! He pulled off his arm!"

  
Chris sighed and shook his head. Orion was a friendly cat, but he could get into a lot of mischief at times. "Looks like Ori will have to go without his treats for today," Chris told Izzy in a matter-of-fact voice, earning a small giggle from her. "I'm sure Mom or Dad can fix this for you, Izzy. Even if Flops does get torn up, there will always be someone to put him back together!"

  
Chris grabbed a safety pin from his top drawer and pinned the arm back on. "This'll hold for now, but maybe you can get someone to sew it so Flops can have a fully functioning arm again."

  
Izzy smiled and grabbed the doll, running from Chris's room and calling for her mom. Chris leaned back against the wall, thinking once more about Josh.

  
_"There will always be someone to put him back together!"_

  
"Maybe there is someone," Chris thought, "Maybe I really can help Josh..."

* * *

 

The parking lot was empty. It wasn't really surprising, actually. The snow was coming down heavily and no one could be blamed for wanting to drive in this sort of weather.

  
Chris glanced at the clock every few minutes. It was warm in his car and he wanted to listen to some music to calm his nerves before heading inside again. The clock read half-past 11, and Chris felt ready. He reached for his backpack on the passenger's side and turned off the car, opening up the door and starting out into the blizzard.

  
The familiar scent of medicine and sterilized tools like scalpels and such hit him. He was at there so often that the scent started to become ingrained in his favorite hoodie and most of his other clothes. It didn't bug him much, though. It reminded him of visiting his mom, who used to work at a hospital as well.  
After signing in, he made his way to the elevator, mentally preparing himself once more to face Josh. He wondered what possibly could go wrong now.

  
He entered the room nervously. Josh was pretending to be asleep on the bed, but Chris knew well enough from numerous sleepovers when Josh was faking sleeping.

  
"Josh," Chris said, taking a seat next to the bed, "Come on, man. I know you're faking it."

  
Josh didn't budge. Chris let out a deep sigh.

  
"Okay, well, maybe you'll listen to me for once, then."

  
Again, there was no movement on the bed, but Chris knew that Josh would've glared at him at this point.

  
"What I said the other day," he started, "I wasn't lying. I wasn't playing with your feelings. I know you're mad at me and the others, but I just want you to know this. I never realized it until now, but it's true; I've liked you for a long time. Remember all those times you told me to tell Ashley that I liked her? I never said anything, not because I was shy, but because it never felt like that was how I actually felt."

  
Josh's breathing slowed as he listened intently.

  
"I never even entertained the thought that it was you. For the longest time, you were like the brother I never had. I understand it now, though."

  
Chris took a moment to compose himself again. He ran his hands through his hair.

  
"Why am I telling you this? ...It's because we've known each other for so long. You're on the verge of hating me, if you don't already, so I guess this will really show me how you feel. I understand completely if you still hate m-"

  
Josh suddenly sprang up from his bed and turned towards Chris. His eyes were glossy, as if he were about to cry.

  
"Chris, you're the only one," he said, "You're the only one who's come to visit me more than twice."

  
Josh held him in an embrace. Chris was completely taken aback by this 180 and nearly fell off his chair from the sudden gesture. It was silent for a good few minutes. Chris slowly and gently returned the hug.

  
"Please don't leave," Josh begged, "I don't have anything else to live for."

  
Chris stayed at the hospital overnight.


End file.
